


Moon Fever

by Cartoonygirl



Category: Final Space (Cartoon)
Genre: Gary probably spends.... 70 percent of this fic unconscious, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Multi, and quinn and avocato spend 100 percent of it stressing, gary is too busy being excited to use sense, i promise quinn is there in chapter 2, if i have to write all the sick fics so be it, so who's the real winner here, there were no final space sick fics and well. i can't let that happen, yeah - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-22
Updated: 2018-04-25
Packaged: 2019-04-26 14:14:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14403846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cartoonygirl/pseuds/Cartoonygirl
Summary: Gary should have learned by now not to touch the strange lifeforms. But he hasn't, so now he has moon fever, and Quinn and Avocato have to find the supposedly nonexistent cure.





	1. Gary Makes A Bad Decision

**Author's Note:**

> so this is kind of an expansion on one of the fics from my drabble collection (bug collection), because i'm not creative enough to think of more ideas, and also i wanted to do more with that fic. so yeah.  
> \-------  
> things I will be bullshitting in this fic:  
> \- planet names  
> \- species names  
> \- plant names  
> cool? cool.

The planet Stull's motto was "The dull Stull," and Gary could not agree with that more. Because Stull was the most boring, uninteresting, mundane planet he'd ever visited. And he was ready to leave.

"Gary. We still need to visit, like, three more stores. So no, we are not leaving yet," Avocato said, putting the saber he'd just bought into the bag. He continued on to the next stall, inspecting the items closely to make sure they weren't forged.

"But it's so boring," Gary complained, leaning onto the counter and sulking. Avocato sighed. He plucked a shield off the wall and handing the stall's owner the money. He continued on to the next stall. They passed two fabric stalls in a row (which Gary found redundant), and then a stall full of bugs. Avocato passed by without a second glance, but Gary stopped at the bug stall.

He'd collected bugs as a kid- many, many bugs, including (but not limited to) Mooncake, Mooncake Jr., Mooncake the third, and Bob. They were all dead now, probably because he'd kept them in jars and often forgot to feed them, but he thought of the memory with fondness. 

"Like what you see?" The shopkeeper asked, appearing from seemingly nowhere. Gary startled, having been focused on one bug with bright blue markings. He swore it was glowing.

"Yeah," Gary said, looking back down at the bug. It was green now, prompting an excited gasp from Gary. "What kind of bug  _is_ that?" He asked, bewildered.

"That's a Lief beetle," the shopkeeper said, looking down at the bug with a fond expression. "You can hold it, if you want." This is the part where a normal person would say, "are you kidding me? No!" But as we all know, Gary is not exactly normal.

"Seriously?" He asked. "But..." He glanced over at Avocato. The ventrexian was busy with his shopping, inspecting a very sharp bayonet. Gary figured that if Avocato was busy, and didn't want to be bothered, it couldn't hurt.

The shopkeeper gently lifted the beetle out of the container and handed it to Gary, who gently let it crawl along his hands. It had turned a soft pink, though Gary could see it turning a darker, neon red.

And then it bit him.

"Agh!" Gary cried, shaking his hand violently. The beetle took off, flying just near Gary's head. Gary swatted it away, falling into the stall behind him. Avocato, noticing the scene that Gary was causing, quickly rushed over to diffuse the situation. The shopkeeper caught the escaped beetle in his hands and shoved it back into the container, slamming the lid closed.

"I can't leave you alone for one minute!" Avocato exclaimed, agitated. He pulled Gary to his feet, and helped to upright the stall Gary had fallen into. Then he dragged Gary along, back towards the Galaxy One.

Gary was too busy staring at his palm to notice. "I'm bleeding," he said, dumbfounded. Bugs couldn't bite you that hard, could they? And the beetle was so tiny, too. It didn't seem right.

"Okay!" Avocato shoved Gary forwards. Gary looked up, just noticing they were back at the ship. "If you're going to be that persistent about leaving, then just stay on the ship!" Avocato took a breath. "Quinn and I will just rendezvous here. Have fun." Avocato walked away, his tail swishing in annoyance.

"Uh," Gary said. "Uh." It was clear that Avocato had no clue what had caused the scene  _or_ that Gary had been bitten by a weird bug. But honestly, Gary was more insulted by his ignorance than worried about the bite.

It was a bug. What harm could it do?

Gary entered the Galaxy One, quickly putting his gloves back on to hide the bite. H.U.E. would be annoying about it, he was sure of that much. "Gary. You're back early. Where are Quinn and Avocato?"

"I annoyed them to death," Gary deadpanned, continuing to his room. Mooncake followed, inspecting Gary's hand, which he was holding to his chest.  _A bug bite shouldn't hurt this much,_ Gary thought. "It's nothing, Mooncake," he assured the tiny alien. Mooncake seemed to relax, if only slightly. 

Back in his room, Gary dramatically flung himself face-down onto the bed. He landed on his bad hand, and had to bite his tongue so he didn't shout. Carefully, he repositioned himself to sit more comfortably. 

Facing away from the cameras that H.U.E. could use to see into his room, he pulled off his glove. The bite had stopped bleeding, at least, but Gary was 90% sure his hand was turning blue around the bite. 

That, he decided, was enough to warrant a trip to the med bay. Slipping his glove back on, he left the room, nonchalantly heading towards the med bay, hoping that H.U.E. wouldn't catch onto his little scheme.

"Gary, why are you going to the med bay?" H.U.E. asked. Gary swore under his breath. H.U.E. noticed _everything_.

"I just thought I'd just... chill there, you know?" Gary said. He was getting dizzy, and he leaned against the wall so he didn't fall over. He ended sliding down and landing on his side on the floor. "On second thought, I'll just chill here." He sat up, his back against the wall, and tried to focus on his breathing. He'd read in some magazine once that it helped with stress. 

"Chookity?" Mooncake asked, looking at Gary with concern.

"I'm fine," Gary said. "I'm... fine." He closed his eyes, letting the dizziness set in.  _Maybe a nap_ , Gary thought.  _Just a short one_.

Then he passed out.


	2. Something's Wrong

"Gary? We're back!" Quinn shouted, entering the Galaxy One. She placed her bag by the doorway, hoping that nothing inside of it would break. Avocato placed his next to hers, walking inside.

"I left him right outside. He's probably in here somewhere," he said, heading towards Gary's room. Quinn followed.

"Did you not get my message?" H.U.E. asked. "Gary is sick." Avocato scoffed. 

"Sick of shopping, maybe," Avocato said, continuing towards Gary's room. "I bet he's faking. You're a computer, H.U.E., how did you fall for that?" Avocato laughed, shaking his head like  _that silly computer_.

Quinn spotted a flash of green flying towards them, and then Mooncake was right in front of her, panicking and saying more nonsense than usual. Quinn had never seen him like this. A feeling of dread sank into her stomach. Even Avocato started to get worried. "He wasn't acting sick this morning," she mumbled. But the facts weren't lying here.

"Okay, maybe he is sick. Where is he?" Avocato asked.

"Passed out in hallway seven. Can't miss him." H.U.E. said it like it was the most casual thing in the world.  _Oh, yes, Gary's just passed out in the hallway._ Avocato and Quinn started to panic faster, and then they started rushing to hallway seven.

Then they stopped. 

Gary was on the floor, having slipped away from the wall. His face was red, and he was barely moving. "He's seriously sick. H.U.E., what's wrong with him?" Avocato asked, crouching down besides Gary.

"I don't know. There's nothing like this in my database," H.U.E. said. Avocato had never heard a computer sound so confused before, and it worried him even more. He gently picked up Gary, carrying him down the hall to the med bay. He set him down on one of the beds and stood with Quinn.

"His hand." Quinn pointed at Gary's hand, which was hanging over the side of the bed. "It's... blue?" Avocato's eyes widened. "What?" Quinn asked.

"Well, it's-it's only a story, really. But there was this old sickness called "moon fever," and one of the symptoms was that the person would... turn blue." Avocato was in disbelief. Moon fever wasn't  _real_. It was a rhyme meant to scare children into behaving correctly.

"How do you cure it?" Quinn asked, but she already knew the answer that was coming.

"You don't," Avocato said. "It's fatal."

The two shared a moment of saddened silence. 

"Actually," H.U.E. said. "Moon fever was real. And there was a cure." Quinn and Avocato perked up. "Unfortunately, this cure was never documented in the nursery rhyme." Quinn and Avocato perked back down.

"How's the rhyme go?" Quinn asked. "Maybe there's a clue."

"I doubt it," Avocato said. "Here's the rhyme:

_If you touch something you're not supposed to,_

_You'll turn sick and blue._

_Moon fever will overtake you_

_And you will die."_

Quinn stood, shocked, for a second. "They said that to  _children?_ _"_ She exclaimed. "And it doesn't even rhyme!"

"It rhymes in its original language," Avocato said defensively. "And see? No clues."

"Actually, there was," Quinn said. "What did Gary touch that he wasn't supposed to?" Avocato thought for a moment.  _There was the whole scene he made_.  _Maybe he wasn't lying_.

"He was freaking out earlier," Avocato said. "I thought he just wanted to leave, but..."

"...There might have been something." Quinn finished. "Did you see what happened?" 

"No," Avocato admitted. "But we could just ask him."

"He's out cold, and we don't have to wait and see if he'll wake up-" Quinn stopped. Gary was starting to stir. "Gary?"

"I'm fine," he mumbled. His head was spinning, still dizzy. He was in the med bay. He could have sworn he hadn't made it to the med bay. Then again, he didn't really remember much except that he thought he was dying. 

"Gary. You're  _literally_ dying," Avocato sighed. Gary tried to sit up, but the pain in his head made him lay back down again. "What did you touch that you weren't supposed to?"

"Uhn. I think it was like a leaf beetle or something. The freaking thing bit me," Gary said, suddenly noticing that his hand was totally numb. "Quinn, has your hair always been blue?" He asked. Then he passed out again.

"A Lief beetle," Avocato said, snapping his fingers. "That shady bug vendor must have had it. He'll probably know what to do." Avocato tried to sound more confident than he felt. It wasn't really working out.

"It won't hurt to check. H.U.E., set a course for Stull," Quinn said. "Let's hope that shopkeeper knows something we don't." She and Avocato were clearly done there. But neither one wanted to leave in case something happened.

They pulled over a couple of chairs and sat, watching stars fly past on their way back to Stull.


	3. Return to Stull

"Where's the stall?" Quinn asked, rushing out from the Galaxy One's hull door. Avocato followed, checking to make sure they were in the right area. He eventually spotted a familiar weapons shop, and the two were off.

They'd left Gary back on the ship, giving H.U.E. strict orders to not let Gary leave the med bay under any circumstances. "He'll do something stupid, and that'll only make him worse," Avocato had said. 

Quinn and Avocato approached the stall they were looking for, hoping that it hadn't already packed up for the day. "Two fabric stalls... this one," Avocato said, stopping next to one of the fabric stalls.

But the bug catcher's stall was gone. Quinn and Avocato blanched. "Where did it go? It's only been a few hours!" Quinn cried. The vendor of the next door fabric stall looked over at the confused duo.

"Lookin' for Ol' Buggy?" She asked. Avocato nodded. "He ran off earlier. Said somethin' 'bout bad omens, a beetle gone crazy. Guy's mad as a loon." Avocato and Quinn shared a nervous glance. Without the shopkeeper, "Old Buggy", there was no way they'd get to the cure in time. 

"Do you know where we could find him?" asked Quinn. "We really need to talk to him. It's urgent," she said, fiddling with her hands.

The vendor thought for a second. "He usually spends time in Jynor. Says it's where all the bugs are." The shopkeeper noticed a customer coming and turned. "Good luck findin' him."

Dejectedly, Quinn and Avocato made their way back to the Galaxy One. "We might as well check Jynor," Avocato suggested, "that vendor could be onto something." 

"It's worth a shot," Quinn said, entering the waiting Galaxy One. 

"Good, you're back," H.U.E. said. "Did you find the cure?" 

"Not yet," Avocato said. "But we have a lead. How far to Jynor?" H.U.E. processed for a second.

"If we lightfold, it should only be a three hour long trip," he said. "But you'll have to hurry. At this rate, Gary will be dead in twelve hours." Quinn and Avocato's jaws dropped. 

" _Twelve hours?"_ Quinn said. "That's not nearly enough time!" 

"It's all the time you have," H.U.E. said, closing the hull door. "Setting a course for Jynor." The Galaxy One took off. 

Back in the med bay, Mooncake was hovering just next to Gary, keeping watch as though something terrible could happen at any second. Avocato gave him an affectionate pat as he entered. 

Gary didn't look much better. He hadn't moved from where they'd left him, still out cold, and the blue tinge had spread across his arm. Quinn sat down in her chair, looking over Gary hopelessly. 

"It'll be fine," Avocato said. "I'm sure we can find Old Buggy."

"I don't doubt that," Quinn replied. "I'm just worried we won't find him in time."


	4. Fever Dreams

Avocato woke to the sound of crying. At first, he feared the worst- that Gary hadn't had as much time as they'd thought- but he quickly realized that the crying was coming from Gary himself. Avocato gently shook Gary's shoulder, trying to ignore the fact that the blue had spread there too. "What's wrong?" He whispered, trying not to wake Quinn.

Gary didn't wake up. He just kept sobbing and grabbing at the pillow on the bed. Avocato shook Gary's shoulder again, harder. "Gary. Wake up." 

"No," Gary mumbled. "No!" He sounded scared. Avocato wasn't sure what to do. Quinn was still sleeping, and he didn't want to wake her, especially since it seemed like Gary was just having a nightmare. 

Suddenly, Gary sat up, still asleep, his arm outstretched like he was reaching for something. "DAD!" He cried, and Avocato just barely managed to catch him as he flung himself off of the bed. 

"Gary!" Avocato screamed. " _Wake up!"_ Gary was still sobbing, and screaming out terrified nonsense. Avocato slowly pushed him back onto the bed, trying to avoid his arms as he swung them around.

"What's going on?" Quinn asked, having been woken by Gary's loud yell. 

"I think he's having a nightmare," Avocato said. "But- so much worse. He won't wake up." 

"What do we do?" Quinn said, watching as Gary struggled against Avocato. 

"I think," said Avocato, "we need to wake him up!" Quinn stood, rushing to the med bay's sink. She filled a cup with water, then ran back over to Gary and splashed the water on him.

"Agh! Hey!" Gary exclaimed, finally waking up. "What was  _that_ -" He broke into a coughing fit. Avocato gently propped him up against the bed frame, and Gary didn't struggle this time. "What was that for?" Gary asked, his voice hoarse.

Avocato gently took Gary's hand. "You were having a nightmare," he explained. "You were kind of freaking out." Gary blinked a few times, trying to remember the dream. "You were yelling about your dad," Avocato said, quieter. Gary seemed to remember the dream.

"God," he said. "I haven't had one of those in ages."

Avocato frowned. "What?" He asked. 

"Nightmares." Gary broke down coughing again.

"Flashbacks," H.U.E. continued. "He had them very often when he first came on the Galaxy One. The last time he had one was a few months ago."

"Same day I lost my arm," Gary said, finally done coughing. He turned onto his side and curled himself into a ball. "My lungs hurt. I didn't know that was possible." Quinn almost laughed.

"We are almost at Jynor," H.U.E. announced. 

"Jynor?" Gary asked. He coughed again.

"We think that the guy with that weird bug is there. He might know about the cure," Quinn explained. Gary nodded, his throat too sore to speak. He seemed to drift off. 

Outside the window, an orange and green planet became visible. "That's Jynor," Avocato said. "Come on. We'll be landing soon." Gary's eyes opened.

"Where are you going?" He asked weakly.  _He's getting worse_ , Avocato thought. They only had nine hours.

"Nowhere," Quinn said. "We'll be back soon." Gary moved to get up, but Quinn stopped him. "No way. You're staying here." Gary was about to protest, but he realized with a start that he probably wouldn't be able to walk. He couldn't feel his legs. He couldn't really feel anything. 

"We'll be back soon," Avocato echoed. "And we'll have the cure. I promise." Gary gave the ventrexian a small smile.

"Thanks," he whispered. Avocato returned the smile.

"Thank me when you're not dying," he said. With that, he and Quinn headed towards the hull of the ship, leaving Gary alone in the med bay.


	5. Jynor

The first thing Quinn noticed about Jynor is that it was hot. She wondered how anything managed to survive in the heat, and that's when she noticed the second thing.

Everything on Jynor was dying.

"What the hell...?" Avocato whispered, taking a tentative few steps forwards. He'd never seen anything like this. Planets shouldn't just up and die. Planets  _couldn't_ just up and die. 

"This is awful," Quinn said, taking in her surroundings. The trees were black and lopsided. The grass was brown and dead, not to mention that it was totally scorched in some places. There wasn't a single bug or animal in sight, and immediately Quinn was suspicious. "Something's wrong here," she murmured.

Avocato nodded, to shocked to speak. The only explanation was that the Lord Commander came to destroy Jynor. But why? What was on Jynor that could be so terrible?

"The cure," Avocato realized aloud. "It's somewhere on this planet." He checked the small clock H.U.E. had given them before they left. It read 8:49. Avocato looked back at the ship. Eight hours wasn't enough time.

"Come on, then," Quinn said. "We'll try everything if we have to." She headed into the dense forest, and Avocato followed. 

"That shopkeeper- Old Buggy?- could still be here," Avocato said. He suddenly bumped into Quinn, who had stopped short, staring at something on the ground with her hands over her mouth. "What-" He cut himself off.

The good news was that Old Buggy  _was_ there.

The bad news was that he was dead. And not by any natural causes, either. "We- We should keep going." Avocato gently ushered Quinn away from the gruesome sight. He was used to it. She certainly was not.

"So," she said as soon as they had passed, her trance broken. "We're trying everything." Avocato's clock beeped, and he and Quinn jumped. On the clock face, the time read 7:47. A message from H.U.E. was underneath it.

 _Calculation changed,_ it read.  _I'm sorry._ Avocato cursed. If eight hours was _barely_  not enough, seven was completely below the mark. "We need to know which plant to look for," Avocato said. 

"How?" Quinn asked. Avocato frowned. That was a good question. How?

"We could..." He trailed off, no ideas in his head. "I don't know," he admitted. " _No_ _one_ does." Quinn thought about this for a second, as though she'd found something that could help them. She finally looked back at Avocato.

"The beetles would know." Avocato looked at her like she was insane. 

"Quinn," he said slowly, "how are we supposed to talk to the beetles?" 

"We don't need to talk to them," Quinn said. "We just need to find their food source." Avocato realized that she was right. The same plants the Lief Beetles consume create the antidote. He checked the watch. 7:44.

"Okay," he said. "We've got less than eight hours." He smiled, his hope returning. "I think we can find a Lief Beetle in that time."


	6. Meanwhile

H.U.E. was an AI, so he couldn't feel emotions. But if he could, he'd be feeling worried. Gary was clearly awake, but he was talking like Quinn and Avocato were still there. 

"I didn't mean to," Gary mumbled, looking at the empty space where Quinn and Avocato were standing. "It kind of just happened." H.U.E. checked the small amount of information he was able to gather on Moon Fever. One of the symptoms was hallucinations, which put the talking into perspective, but it also said that the hallucinations wouldn't come until the infected was on the edge of death. Gary still had almost nine hours left. 

H.U.E. checked his calculations again. He'd never been wrong before. But this time, when he checked, it said that Gary had almost  _eight_ hours left. He sent this update to Avocato and Quinn, but he was more preoccupied with the fact that he'd actually gotten something  _wrong_. He was a computer. 

Computers didn't make mistakes. Humans made mistakes, because they let their emotions get in the way of things. H.U.E. didn't have emotions.

Right? He was certain of it. But he supposed that over five years, he'd become attached to Gary. More than he let on, because he wasn't supposed to be attached. He was supposed to be there to make sure prisoners did their jobs, stayed alive, and didn't go insane. But he wasn't there to be their friends.

"Don't go," Gary said, his voice louder and clearer than before. "Please." H.U.E. saw him reaching forwards again, but this time he wasn't just sleepwalking, he was seeing and hearing things that plainly were not there. 

"Gary," H.U.E. said slowly, "you are hallucinating. Avocato and Quinn are no longer onboard the Galaxy One." This was clearly the wrong thing to say. Gary looked absolutely heartbroken. Whatever he was seeing, it wasn't good.

"Gary, you are hallucinating," H.U.E. repeated. "They'll be back soon."

"H.U.E.?" Gary asked. His voice was hoarse and weak again. "Are you going to leave too?" 

"I cannot leave the Galaxy One, Gary," H.U.E. said patiently. "I am an AI."

Gary smiled softly. "So you're staying."

"Yes," H.U.E. replied. "I'm staying."

"Thanks." Gary's voice was just barely above a whisper. H.U.E. watched him drift off. 

He hoped that he would wake again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so uh. mentally I’m not in a good place right now so it’s likely this fic will stay unfinished. sorry guys.


End file.
